X is for The X-Files

Mulder: How many times have we been here before, Scully? Right here. So close to the truth and now with what we’ve seen and what we know to be right back at the beginning with nothing.

Set between the end of season 5 and the start of season 6 of the X-Files tv show, the movie was quite an event for a long-time fan such as myself. I’d followed the adventures of Mulder & Scully for years, eagerly discussing the previous night’s episode with friends at work.

The movie was good fun, though felt rather too much like an extended episode of the show. Mulder and Scully traded dialogue playfully. There was the usual gubbins about extraterrestrial plots and shadowy government conspiracies. Our heroes have been bumped from the X-Files and are investigating a bomb threat against a government building in Dallas. Mulder discovers the bomb in an adjoining building.

Hijinks ensue. There are swarms of bees, black helicopters, The Lone Gunmen (yay!) and, of course, our old chum, the Cigarette-Smoking Man. The X-Team turn up in Antarctica for reasons I’m not entirely clear on (it’s been a while since I watched it!) and in the end, there’s a hearing where they’re ignored (as per usual) and stuff gets covered up.

All in all, a big long episode. Which is what we wanted anyway. Wasn’t it?